All-Select Comics #2

Aug 9

Aug 9 All-Select Comics #2

Saboteurs In White

YACReader - All Select Comics V1 #2 (1943).cbz 2019-08-09 15.19.57.png

The Red Skull has returned to the United States with an army of minions to commit acts of sabotage on American defense factories. His activities prompt the military to call in Captain America for help. As they begin planning how to best deal with the Skull, the villain takes over a radio broadcast and boasts about his victories and tells the listening audience that he intends to blow up the Titanic Explosive Factory. Captain America tells the commanding officer to place a guard around the building in order to defend it from attack. Sure enough, Private Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are assigned as part of a guard detail. However, when night falls, the Red Skull and his minions manage to get past the military and set off their explosives. When Steve and James change into Captain America and Bucky the pair find no trace of the Red Skull or his minions on site.

The commanding general who followed Captain America's orders is chewed out by his superior officers who order him to no longer use Captain America on this case. When the Red Skull next broadcasts that he is going to attack the Goliath Tank Factory his men parachute from an aircraft over the factory. This time Captain America and Bucky arrive on the scene to try to stop the Red Skull and his men. When the Red Skull climbs into a completed tank and uses it to try to destroy his hated enemy, Captain America is forced to blow the tank up, but the Red Skull manages to escape. Watching as the Red Skull and his men escape in an ambulance, they follow after him on motorcycle to a nearby hospital.

There they find that the entire facility has been overrun by Nazi spies and are soon defeated in combat. The Red Skull then places Captain America inside an iron lung in order to kill him with steam while he prepares to perform a grisly operation on Bucky. Captain America manages to break free by loosening his belt buckle and using it to remove the screws keeping the lid of the iron lung clamped shut. He then rushes into the operating theater and easily knocks out the Red Skull and his men and rescue Bucky. When the Red Skull is turned over to the authorities, the two heroes return to their civilian guises. When they are back at Camp Lehigh, Sgt. Duffy wonders why he can't have soldiers like Captain America instead of being stuck with Rogers and Barnes.

Recurring Characters

Captain America
Bucky
Sgt. Duffy
Nazis
- Red Skull

Black Market Death

A meat truck owned by the Ross Meat Company is suddenly stopped in the middle of its delivery by men in white outfits. The driver and his assistant are shot dead and the truck stolen. This is the fifth such robbery in as many days, attracting the attention of the Human Torch and Toro who decide to investigate and find out who is stealing the trucks.

They pay a visit to the Ross Meat Company and meet with its manager Michael Vornin who has no clues as to why his company is constantly targeted. Learning of another delivery scheduled for that very night, the Human Torch and Toro decide to be the ones driving it. Meanwhile, thieves meet with their leader known as the Head who is aware that the Torch and Toro are going to be involved in the next shipment and orders his men to prepare to steal the meat anyway so that they can sell it on the black market.

As the Human Torch and Toro are on their delivery run, their tries run over broken glass and when they examine the flat they are ambushed by the Head and his minions who douses the two heroes in liquid asbestos so that they cannot flame on. The two heroes are then knocked out and brought back to the gang’s hideout. There they are placed in an airtight container. When the two heroes come around, the Head explains his plot and when the two heroes attempt to use their flames, he activates the cases freezing controls dropping the temperature so that it prevents the heroes from using their powers and eventually freeze them to death. Finding a meat cleaver carelessly let in the container, the Torch uses it to smash their way out. While the Human Torch and Toro manage to round up the gang, the Head manages to escape.

Deducing who the Head is, the Human Torch and Toro pay a visit to the Ross Meat Company and confront Michael Vornin of being the Head. When the Torch attempts to take Vornin into custody he flees into the meat plants slaughterhouse where he gives the Human Torch and Toro chase. While attempting to flee some of the Torch's fireballs, Vornin trips over a metal cart and impales himself through the throat on a meat hook, ending his life.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch
Toro

The Phony Tokyo

An American aircraft carrier is heading toward the Japanese shoreline to initiate a repeat of the successful Operation: Doolittle which saw bombing raids on Tokyo which only netted in eight apparent casualties. Among the soldiers have been selected to participate on the raid is Doug "Jap Buster" Johnson. However, before they are ready for the attack a Japanese plane with an American flag attached to the wing just barely lands on the runway. To their surprise, the pilot is one of the American fighter pilots who were seemingly killed in the Doolittle Raid. Mortally wounded, the pilot warns Johnson about a Jap plot to waste their bombs, but died before he can provide any details.

Concerned about the success of their mission he convinces his commanding officer to do a 10 hour recon of Tokyo to determine what is going on there. After fighting his way through Japanese Zero Fighters, Johnson lands the plane outside of Tokyo. However, when he arrives in the area he is surprised to find that Tokyo is not exactly where his map states it's located.

Finding the city mostly deserted he realizes that it is in reality just a decoy of the city. He is spotted by Japanese soldiers who attack him, but manages to get away. Hearing the groan of an American, he finds one of the Doolittle pilots tied up near a crate of explosives in one of the decoy houses. Johnson knocks out the Japanese soldier guarding his comrade. He learns from the other pilot that the Japanese have camouflaged Tokyo and created this decoy town so that the Americans waste their bombs on a false target.

Fighting their way through the Japanese soldiers working, they fight their way to the Johnson's aircraft. As they escape, they shoot down a Japanese Zero Fighter to crash on the mesh netting they have to disguise the real city of Tokyo.

Recurring Characters

Jap Buster Johnson
Imperial Japan

The Horror of the Yellow Men

An American ship sailing along the Mermansk route is suddenly attacked by a massive sea monster that destroys the vessel before disappearing back into the ocean depths. When the story reaches the United states, they ask the Sub-Mariner to investigate the sightings.

The Sub-Mariner swims out to where the monster was last sighted and boards another American vessel travelling through the area. When the creature attacks the vessel, the Sub-Mariner goes into action and fights the beast. Realizing that it is under some kind of radio control he little realizes that the creature was created by a Japanese scientist named Nichi who created the monsters from his secret island base.

Unable to stop the monster from destroying the ship, he finds the headphones on the creature where it gets its command and then rides it back to its hideout. When they arrive at Nichi's secret island, Nichi unleashes a second, even larger sea monster to attack the Sub-Mariner and the other crature. After slaying the first monster, the second one goes after Namor who stabs it through the eyes with a stalagmite, killing it. With both monsters dead, Namor then sets the island to explode, and flees leaving Nichi to die when the island explodes.